Irsay: Manning decision likely to come in March

February 01, 2012|The Sports Xchange

Colts owner Jim Irsay talks to Peyton Mannings on the sidelines before a game last November. (MCT Photo)

INDIANAPOLIS -- Despite the contentions by Peyton Manning earlier this week that he would prefer his future be decided “soon rather than later,” Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay said Wednesday that a determination about the star quarterback will go into March.

Irsay also cleared up some confusion about the March 8 deadline for paying Manning a $28 million bonus to retain his rights. If the bonus is not paid, Manning will immediately become a free agent.

“Anything is possible if two parties get together and agree,” Irsay said when asked if the bonus payment could he delayed by an arrangement between the two sides.

Speaking to a small gathering of reporters, most of them local newspaper and electronic media representatives, Irsay reiterated that the decision on Manning will not be a sentimental one, and determined by what is in the best interests of the club. He said that he and Manning have had some discussions regarding the situation, with the quarterback having undergone three surgical procedures on his neck in a 19-month stretch, and will talk again after the Super Bowl.

There is, Irsay said, no timetable for those discussions over what he characterized as a “complicated medial issue.” He said that all of the doctors have acknowledged that they had never before seen a similar condition in a quarterback, and that Manning's situation probably going to be scrutinized as a case study in the future. Irsay told The Sports Xchange that the medical situation if frustrating for all parties involved. “The thing is, they just don't know,” Irsay said. “There's no precedent, really, to base the thing on.”

Irsay said that Manning and the club have consulted with specialists “literally world-wide,” and that they haven't yet received “a definitive answer.”

“It's a two-phase medical (situation),” Irsay said. “First, can he drill it in Foxborough in January? The second has always been about the health and the risk of going back on the field.”

There have been various reports this week about the status of Manning's rehabilitation, with one suggesting he has hit a “plateau” in his recovery. Manning has said, though, that he plans to resume playing in 2012, after missing the entire 2011 season, and his brother, New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning, said his older sibling is working hard to return to the field.

Manning has been throwing since December, and Irsay said he has seen some of the quarterback's workout, but declined to comment on them.

“I'm not going to project … You take it one day at a time,” Irsay said.

In general, Irsay said that, while the decision on Manning is the most noteworthy one facing the Colts' new football regime, it isn't the only difficult call that general manager Ryan Grigson and coach Chuck Pagano will have to make. But he made it clear that the goal is to provide the franchise with the best team possible and the city of Indianapolis with the best chance to win.